Video: The 50 Best Movies of 2013

A week ago, we revealed our staff-wide picks for the 50 Best Movies of 2013. One of our writers, Michael Mirasol (with assistance from Ian Jones), has now put together a short video to showcase our choices. In it, he identifies 20 themes that were shared by many of last year’s best movies, and used them to connect each entry on the list. Here’s what Mirasol had to say about the video:

“Choosing 50 of the best films of any year is a daunting task, and so is finding a common thread that runs through them all. The easy way out is to say that cinema covers life and humanity in all its sadness and joy. But it’s important to point out what was on filmmakers’ minds in 2013, in what they chose to portray and the different path they took to envision it.

There was a focus on the continuing struggle against racism (12 Years A Slave), the dysfunction of capitalism (The Wolf Of Wall Street), the attempt to communicate a feeling or idea through the abstract (Leviathan, stories of youth coming of age (e.g. Blue Is The Warmest Color), and confrontations with our own mortality both poignant (All Is Lost) and hilarious (This Is The End). Those themes, and many more, graced cinema over the past year with unusual variety, nuance and depth. This video essay is an attempt to flow through these moments and memories. One can only hope that 2014 will continue to grant us such a cavalcade of cinematic treasures.”

Don’t forget to check out our writers’ take on each film listed after watching the video below. Which theme were you drawn to the most in 2013?

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Movie Mezzanine is an online publication dedicated to covering the medium that connects us all, one film at a time. With writers stationed around the globe, we offer a uniquely diverse perspective on cinema, both old and new. To learn more about us, go here.